


Don't you see?

by crescend0



Series: Until Dawn - Wendigo Redesign Collection [1]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ghosts, Gore, Read the Notes for my explanation, Vengeful Spirits, Wendigo, Wendigo Redesign
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-13 23:42:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19261558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crescend0/pseuds/crescend0
Summary: Alternate take on the decapitated head scene





	Don't you see?

Emily could feel her blood freezing in her veins as she crept further into the darkest cavern. There was something at the back of it, almost like a cairn or totem, illuminated weakly by the minimal light filtering into the mine. Emily reached out tentatively, giving the object a nudge. To her horror, the structure fell apart, the item on top rolling grotesquely at her feet. A shriek bubbled up at Emily’s throat, eyes watering in a mixture of horror and disgust as two blank,  glazed over eyes glared at her from the darkness at her feet. A head. A whole head. Emily choked back a sob as she scrambled clumsily backwards, desperately fighting back the urge to retch. The sound of heavy footsteps jarred Emily out of her horrified haze, and she flattened herself against the side of the cavern, slapping a hand over her mouth to muffle her frantic breaths. Although her body begged her not to, Emily couldn’t keep her eyes off the head. Filmy eyes seemed to watch her, flickering unnaturally in the waning light.

_“Look at what you’ve done. Look. LOOK. LOOK AT ME YOU COWARD. THIS IS YOUR FAULT. YOU DID THIS TO ME.”_

Emily whimpered pathetically, clawing at the wall behind her in a futile attempt to create more distance between herself and the head.

_“I have a name, you fool. Say it. SAY IT. You can’t, can you? YOU WON’T OWN UP TO WHAT YOU DID? YOU KILLED ME.”_

Emily squeezed her eyes shut, biting into her palm to muffle her sobs. Through her tears, she could’ve sworn she saw the shadows move.

_“I WOULD STILL BE ALIVE IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU. Your fault. Your fault. Your FAULT. YOUR FAULT YOURFAULTYOURFAULTYOURFAULTYOUR-”_

A burst of fire lit the tunnel outside of the cavern, casting an eerie orange glow across the walls. Emily watched in horror as the shadows melted off the wall, manifesting a towering figure. The corpse head’s eyes glowed like twin coals.

_“Now you see what we’ve become. This is what you made us. YOU DID THIS. YOU DID. YOU SEE NOW? DO YOU SEE? YOU’LL DIE FOR YOUR ACTIONS. YOU’LL DIE YOU’LL DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE-”_

Emily screamed, clawing at her temples desperately trying to block out the horrible chant. The corpse’s shriveled mouth moved in time with the booming voice, eyes burning holes straight through Emily. The shadowy figure took a step forward, the flickering firelight illuminating smooth bone and towering antlers. It’s head was a massive bear-like skull, the bone was barely yellowed with age. Hollowed out eye sockets bored down at her, only the faintest glimmer of reflected light from within their depths signifying that there were still eyes in them. Charcoal grey skin stretched taught over jutting bones stood out barely against the darkness of the cave, claws like shards of obsidian seemed to melt out of the walls. A mane of nearly black hair hung limply around its skull. Its skeletal maw gaped, exposing bits of gore stuck between dagger like teeth. Emily was frozen, locked in its dead-eyed gaze, and the corpse’s chants began to fade into nothing as the creature took another step towards Emily’s paralyzed form.

_“DON’T YOU RECOGNIZE ME. YOU HURT ME. HURT MY SISTER. KILLED HER. NOW I KILL YOU.”_

The creature struggled to form words, its long tongue writhing like a snake within its shuddering jaws. Its voice was like metal grating on metal, a horrible scratching sound that reverberated through the cavern, sending an involuntary shudder through Emily.

_“I’M SO HUNGRY.”_

_“And it’s YOUR FAULT YOURFAULTYOURFAUL-”_

Emily finally found the feeling in her legs as the corpse’s shrieking voice raised to join the monster’s, twin sets of eyes glinting with malice at her as she staggered backwards, legs wobbling, threatening to give out. In two steps the monster stood in front of her, its nearly skeletal frame towering nearly double her height, discounting its wretched, twisting antlers. Black claws attached to bony fingers grazed carefully, almost tenderly over her face, a startling juxtaposition to the corpse’s booming death chant. The creature gripped her chin firmly, and Emily could feel blood welling around the points where it’s claws dented her skin.

_“WHY DID YOU HURT ME. I CARED FOR YOU. YOU HURT ME. YOU HURT MY SISTER. YOU WON’T HURT ANYONE ELSE.”_

The monster’s grating voice sounded almost sorrowful for a mere second, before it raised into a booming bellow. Emily couldn’t speak, couldn’t do anything but shake in the towering creature’s vice-like grip. Wild, tear filled eyes managed to lock onto a peculiar dark patch on the monster’s shoulder. As Emily blinked the tears out of her eyes, the patch solidified and transformed into the swirling outline of a butterfly.

_“Do you understand now. DO YOU?”_

Beth’s ghastly shriek finally made sense, and Emily could only nod stiffly, movement constrained by Hannah’s clawed hand.

“I’m s-so so-sorry, Hannah, I-I’m so sorry. Beth, I never meant for a-any of this to ha-happen!” Emily cried, desperately prying at Hannah’s fingers, but they were like steel bars. Cocking her head, Hannah regarded her words for a split second. A guttural growl escaped her jaws as claws released Emily’s chin and raked across her chest, cutting through her breastbone with sickening ease. Emily couldn’t summon the strength to scream as fingers dug through her chest, claws slicing through her ribs and arteries. Emily was dead before she hit the floor, a gaping hole in her chest where her heart once was. The dripping organ slipped from Hannah’s blood-slicked claws and fell to the floor with a gory splatter. Hannah stepped over her former friend’s cooling body, stopping in front of her toppled cairn. With more care and tenderness that a creature of her size should be capable of, Hannah scooped up her sister’s head and placed it back atop the crude structure.

_“NO ONE WILL HURT YOU AGAIN. I KEEP YOU SAFE. FOREVER.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so I wrote this in like 30 minutes so take it or leave it but I wanted a short opening piece for a large series I'll be working on. I am completely redesigning the wendigos, making them more traditional to the Alonquian folklore and also taking loads of inspiration from Stephen King's Pet Sematary. Some pieces I write may be connected, some may be completely separate (an AU within an AU, if you will). I'll be posting sketches and concept art of my wendigos on my Tumblr (wendi-gone) and hopefully putting out fics at a semi regular rate? Take that with a grain of salt, folks, I get really bad writers block.


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